Actually, you'd probably get a far lesser number of unproductive lawyers and historians and writers out there, because then the market would have to bear them instead of the taxpayers. Certainly there would be those lawyers and historians and writers who were lawyers and historians and writers because they "could afford to indulge in those pursuits," but in a free-market system, those are likely to be the folks that actually ARE the best and the brightest, as opposed to what we have right now. Now, any dumbass who doesn't fall asleep through the finals and the LSAT can get a poli sci/history/English degree, go on to graduate from some low-end law school, and become an ambulance chaser who'll sue at the merest hint of legal privilege. The same is true as to the difficulty of getting one of those undergrad degrees alone, though after you get out and try to USE those degrees, odds are better that you'll have to get a productive job.
What do you think of the GI Bill of the post World War II era? Naturally, I'm asking in regards to the educational opportunities it presented...